Burdens Aren't Always Heavy
by Legendary Pineapple
Summary: When Juliet's life takes a sudden turn, Shawn learns what it means to see the world through her eyes and how to use his own strength to help lighten her burden. Oneshot with Juliet whump and plenty of Shules-y goodness.


**Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction (that's solely based on the lives of fictional characters) I've ever written! I hope you enjoy it and love Shules as much as I do! Thanks for checkin' it out :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or anything even remotely Psych-related, except for the occasional pineapple :)**

 _8:24 a.m._

Shawn finished sipping the last of his pineapple smoothie as Gus slid the Blueberry into their favorite parking space at the station. He threw the car into park, took the keys from the ignition, and was ready to head inside before Shawn had even unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Shawn, would you hurry up? Chief Vick told us to meet everyone here at 8 a.m. sharp," Gus chided while checking his watch. He hated being late.

"Sorry, buddy," Shawn said as he got out of the car, "I can't help being a fan of delicious flavor."

He tossed his empty smoothie cup into a nearby trash can as he jogged to keep up with Gus.

They burst through the doors of the station and muttered a quick greeting to Buzz before throwing open the doors of the chief's office.

Lassiter was in the middle of a conversation with Henry when he caught sight of the duo and said, "Well, lookie here! They finally decided to show up!"

Chief Vick glanced at her watch and scolded them for being late yet again because, after all, this wasn't the first time.

Shawn was about to make some outlandish excuse about fallen trees blocking the road or about his alarm clock falling out of his window in the middle of the night, but something stopped him short. Or rather, some _one_.

Juliet had been unnaturally quiet while all of this commotion ensued. In fact, she barely seemed to notice that Shawn and Gus had entered the room at all. She absentmindedly toyed with her sweater and stared through the glass door at something too far away to be seen.

Shawn wasn't used to seeing his girlfriend trapped in such a pensive state, and his eyes lingered on her a moment longer than they should've. Gus apologized for their lack of punctuality and gave Shawn a not-so-subtle nudge with his elbow. Shawn added a hasty "sorry" before Chief Vick shifted into discussing the team's most current case.

"All right, everyone, this ends our discussion on the Conway case," said Karen, "You all are dismissed and, Lassiter, make sure to check up on his business partner, Evan Yake."

The team began filing out of the office one at a time. Juliet brushed past Shawn and barely glanced up at him before moving along. He made a move to follow her, but the Chief called his name and motioned him over to her desk. Shawn reluctantly complied and stood in front of Karen. Once everyone had left the room, she lowered her voice and asked, "Do you know what's wrong with my junior detective?"

"Oh, you mean Jules? I haven't noticed anything," Shawn replied when, of course, he had noticed everything. He and Jules were trying to stay professional and keep their relationship under wraps at work.

Karen Vick wasn't named the Chief of Police for nothing; she knew from the beginning that Shawn's relationship with her junior detective was far from platonic. Though she usually tried to stay out of her employees' affairs, she couldn't help but be concerned about Juliet. So she had decided to recruit the only person who could crack her façade and truly get to the bottom of what was plaguing her.

"Okay, well, if you notice anything amiss, don't be afraid to set it right," she said with a wink.

Shawn gave her a puzzled nod and exited the office, forgetting to shut the door in his haste.

Gus was waiting for Shawn outside the Chief's office and pulled him aside when he came out.

"Are we in trouble, Shawn? Because I swear I have told you that if we were late one more time —"

"It wasn't about that, buddy," said Shawn. He frowned and continued, "I think Karen knows about me and Jules."

Gus' mouth opened in surprise, but Shawn finished, "It's okay, though, I think she approves. She actually told me to make sure she was okay."

Gus glanced over at Juliet as she typed furiously on her keyboard. He turned back to Shawn and said, "Well, that's good. Go talk to her and I'll catch you later."

Shawn clapped his best friend on the shoulder, said, "Thanks, buddy," and took a deep breath before making his way over to Jules' desk.

As Gus threw on his blinker to prepare to merge onto the freeway, he couldn't help but let his mind drift back to Shawn and Juliet. He had to admit that it was strange to see the usually bright and bubbly detective act so unusually pensive. He hoped that she was okay and that Shawn could help her get to the bottom of what she was dealing with.

 _Man_ , he thought, _Shawn has really begun to mature. He used to be so reckless, with his constant moving and switching of jobs and his lack of will to commit himself to anything. But he's been at the same job for five years now, and has put more time and effort into his relationship with Juliet than he has ever put into anything._

Gus half-smiled to himself as he pulled up to the Psych office and walked inside to wait for the call from his best friend.

Back at the station, Shawn was anxious to find out what was wrong with Jules. As he approached her desk, he noticed that she was typing very quickly and that she seemed intensely focused on her work.

 _That's good,_ he thought, _maybe her work has relaxed her mind for a while_.

His thoughts quickly changed as he moved in range of her computer screen and saw that the only program she had open was the browser. She was typing nonsense characters into Google's search bar as if searching for an answer to a question she did not yet know how to form.

Shawn saw this and knew that whatever she was dealing with was worse than he had originally thought. He bent down, putting a tender hand on her shoulder, and whispered, "Sweetheart, can I have a quick word?"

She nodded a "yes", but continued staring at her computer screen. Shawn took her hand and led her to an empty conference room, shutting the door behind him.

Chief Vick stood up to shut her office door and saw Shawn lead Juliet into the conference room. She quietly shut her door and smiled to herself as she returned to her work.

Once inside the conference room, Shawn made sure to close all of the blinds before focusing his attention on Juliet.

 _Wow,_ she thought, _that was really considerate of him to make sure I had privacy enough to be able to speak my mind._

"Now either you're planning a surprise gift exchange for Lassie (we know how well that went in '05), or something is really troubling you," Shawn said as he walked up to Jules and affectionately placed his hands on her shoulders, "What's the matter, sweetheart?"

Juliet's heart melted at the sincere look of concern that flashed through her boyfriend's eyes, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. She was prepared to tell him everything, but at the last moment, all of her courage left her. She suddenly became very interested in the style of carpeting when Shawn realized she had started to cry. He slid his hands down to hers and rubbed them in slow circles as he reassured her, "Jules, it's okay, you can tell me anything."

She broke away from him and looked into his eyes. Shaking her head, she said through her tears, "I can't, Shawn. Not here. Not now."

Juliet hastily wiped her eyes as she exited the conference room, leaving a bewildered Shawn standing alone to ponder more than just the odd choice of carpeting.

"So, did you ever figure out what was up with Juliet?" Gus asked Shawn a couple of hours later in the Psych office after tossing the hackey-sack back to him.

"Not quite," Shawn said as he executed a perfect under-the-leg trick shot back to  
Gus, "She was really shaken up."

About thirty minutes had passed when they heard the door of the Psych office open. Gus nodded to Shawn and he turned around to find the lovely face of his girlfriend looking back at him. She asked him if they could have a quick word outside and, after his heart skipped a beat, he replied, "Of course."

Shawn wasn't sure what Juliet had come to talk to him about, but a confidant nod from Gus gave him all the courage he needed.

Juliet led him outside and they took a seat under the window, each resting comfortably against the front of the building. She turned to Shawn and said, "Before you say anything, I want to apologize for the way I acted at the station. I'm usually so much more composed, but I…I don't know what came over me."

"That's okay, Jules, I just wanted to make sure we weren't going to have another secret Santa debacle on our hands."

She smiled at him for a few moments before a gloomy shade eclipsed the brightness of her eyes. He placed a hand on her leg and she told him the story.

She told him about how she received the phone call late the night before from the doctor; about how he told her that her mother had been hospitalized due to a cancer mass they detected in her left lung. The mass did not react to the radiation treatments her mother was receiving, and he feared it could only get worse.

Shawn searched her eyes and fell silent for a few moments. He saw the pain flash through them, and immediately gathered her up in his arms.

 _Why her,_ Shawn thought, _why do such terrible things happen to the kindest people?_

Shawn swallowed and spoke softly in Juliet's ear as she buried her face in his shirt, "I know how you feel. Seeing my dad hooked up to all of those machines after the shooting scared me half to death. Even though he and I haven't always had the best relationship, I knew I needed him around. You have a much stronger and much more loving relationship with your mom, and not even cancer could separate the two of you. We'll help her fight this and, if she's half as stubborn as you are, she'll never let this thing get the best of her."

She looked up at him, and he laughed as she gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

"You're a jerk," she said with a smile, "but I love you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me and to share my burden and to care about my family and to check up on me because you know that Lass —"

He cut her off with a kiss filled with so much love and emotion that her heart skipped a beat and she fell silent as her breath was taken away.

"Jules, my life was completely changed the moment I walked into that diner so many years ago. I knew right then and there that I was in love with you, and that I always would be. No burden of yours is too heavy for me to carry, and I never, ever would dream of thinking twice before lifting it from your shoulders. Now, let's go inside and see if Gus saved us some Dilly bars."

He helped her off the ground and, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, started towards the door.

Gus smiled to himself as he licked the final layer of ice cream off the last Dilly bar in the box. He continued listening to the conversation through the drinking glass that he had propped against the wall, and jumped when he heard Shawn head for the door. He quickly set the glass back on its coaster, leapt over the table onto the couch, and opened the latest edition of _Coinnoisseur_ to the fourth page as if he had been reading it the whole time.

Shawn and Juliet entered the room and Gus looked up.

"Oh, hey guys! I didn't even hear you come in!"

Shawn looked sideways at the empty Dilly bar wrapper lying open on the ground next to him and gave Gus a look.

"Aw, was that the last Dilly bar?" Shawn whined.

"You know that's right."

"Man, you know I was saving those and you just went ahead and —"

"I only ATE it because I called dibs on it and you know that! " Gus interrupted.

Shawn and Gus continued to argue as Jules smiled, slowly shook her head, and went to go on the first of many dairy runs that would take place that day. All was as it should be.


End file.
